Justicar Apollo
Current Status: The Ordo Malleus lent seven carefully selected Grey Knights to aid in a Ordo Xenos campaign that was suspected to run into taint of demonic nature. These seven Grey Knights were instructed to report any suspected foul play of the warp. They were split up into different Deathwatch squads, it was decided they would be able to quickly find any signs of daemon hands at play if they were spread across the battlefield. Apollo being a justicar ( Equivalent of Sergeant ) requested to lead a squad. Past History: Prior to his work wtih the Ordo Xenos Justicar Apollo lead a small Grey Knight Strike Squad. Strike Squads often form the vanguard of a Grey Knights assault force. Strike Squads are used to capture vital locations and key objectives, deploying the them via fixed teleporter to ensure a swift seizure of isolated or Inaccessible locations. Once in place, a Strike Squad can lay down a punishing stream of storm bolter and psycannon fire in support of the main assault. Apollo lead his squad through many campaigns in his life time, but is still green by Space Marine standards and has much to learn of leadership. However Apollo is not to be underestimated as he has proved his skills time and time again on the battlefield and is a living breathing weapon, as any Space Marine should be. Culling Of Jerdian IV: A planet of full of vast canyons, cliffs and massive rivers, Jerdian was a colony world at the verge of exterminatus. Half its city's over taken by a large and ever growing demonic cult. Its last hope lied in the hands of the Grey Knights. The battle field had been set and both sides were massing. Large imperial guard forces fortified the battle lines while an Assault force of one hundred Grey Knights prepared to go for the throat of this demonic infestation. The battle began as the sun started to set. Crazed cultists, mutated beyond human recognition, elongated fingers with bones sharpened to fine razor points, skin bursting to expose new limbs and were all more gruesome than the next. Daemon spawn cracked their whips and herded the fodder forward across the valley floor. They met with the Imperial guard defenses in only seconds, lasgun fire soon lit up the canyon walls as the never ending flow of mutated cultists stampeded toward them. But it was not here where the Grey Knights were to fight. They would be in the center of this horde. Grey Knight Strike teams were teleported onto key canyon cliff sides where they could support the bulk of the grey knight attack with suppressing fire. It was Apollo who would be leading one of these strike squads. Apollo and his squad materialized on the cliff side and were instantly met with the foul cackling laughs and daemonic chants of cultists as hordes pushed ever forward. Apollo's heightened senses could make out larger daemons pushing there way through the mutants. Alaric lifted his bolter arm and aimed down at the tide of vermin then thumbed the firing stud. Silver bolts began slamming into the cultist below, there bodys being torn apart as they burst. Squad Apollo opened up a torrent of suppressing fire with storm bolter and psycannon ripping through mutant and daemon alike. The same could be seen along different sides of the canyons walls and soon a white hue emerged from the center of the advancing horde. The Grey Knights main Assault force erupted out of no where. Terminators began tearing through the horde on all sides, gouts of flame poured through incinerating anything in it's path. The hordes broke formations and began attacking wildly at the nearest foe they could see. Some turned on Squad Apollo and began to scale the cliff walls praying to there demonic gods for blood. The cultists charged the cliff face, mad with blood lust, and Squad Apollo began taking aim at them as they scaled the cliff walls. Though the the swarm seemed to have no end and they would soon be out of ammunition bodys burst into bloody pulp and tumbled back down to the valley floor as the defenders began to repel their invaders. Apollo hefted his nemesis halberd and prepared for the first of the cultists to be within reach. A disfigured arm reached out at Apollo's leg, and he lashed his halberd out carving the cultist's torso in two. More limbs came over the edge and Apollos battle brothers began hacking through anything within reach but there were just too many to keep up with. More and more came and soon entire clutists lifted over the cliffs lip. Tentacled arms wrapped around Apollos legs as cultists lept onto his arms and shoulders. They were desperately trying to drag Apollo to the ground where his size would count for nothing. Apollos bolter hand swung hard and threw the cultist off him. He then grabbed the other on his right arm, his hand wrapping around it's head as his halberd tore right through the torso. Then suddenly something slammed hard into his back pack pushing him forward as the tentacles around his legs yanked him off the cliffs edge. Apollo plummeted down to the cliff floor, he reached out trying to find something to hold onto but there was nothing. Apollo slammed hard into the floor his body making a cracked bloody crater as he crushed cultists below the weight of his massive armor. He stood and quickly made sure there was no major injuries. His armor systems showed he was suffering from some internal bleeding and a punctered lung, but it was nothing he couldn't fight through. Cultists began screeching with joy and ran at Apollo. He refused to make it easy, as he lashed his halberd out in wide deadly arks, tearing through bone and flesh like wet paper. Alaric slowly backed away as his blade spun and stabbed through the charging mob until his back was against the cliff wall. The wards in his skin were burning white hot as the cultists screeched foul demonic curses. They closed in on him all at once. The tide pushed Apollo back, they were trying to pin him against the cliff wall. He stabbed the blade of his halberd into the ground and anchored himself down as his left arm reached around the back of his waist and unsheathed a nemesis falchion. Apollo planted his feet and pushed forward and pulled with his right arm slamming forward against the mob, his nemesis falchion slashing out cutting down anything in his path. Cultists wailed as they where forced back. Apollo let go of his halberd and pulled out another falchion, his blades began twirling around him in deadly arks, slashing and stabbing in all directions. It was impossible to track their movements, the blades seem to have minds of their own as they danced around Apollo. Blood and gore flung through the air around him. Arms, legs, and heads were sheared from bodies. The gunmetal grey of Apollo's armor was now a dark bloody black, the ground at his feet slick with gore. The smell that came through Apollo's helmet air scrubbers, stank of decay and death. Apollo could feel the reality of the world being distorted before he felt the tremors in the ground. A Daemon had set it's sights on Apollo, forcing its way through the cultists. It stood eight feet above the cultists heads, crushing any that did not get out of its way. Apollos wards were burning white hot in his skin and he was filled with nothing but pure hate and disgust for the daemon spawn. The Daemon bellowed a horrible scream as it got closer. The Grey Knights are a anathema to creatures of the warp. The very presence of their purity is blaspheme to a daemon. At that moment the world around Apollo no longer mattered, his hatred was focused on the vile daemon. The daemon began to close the gap smashing cultists aside as it charged. Apollo raised his right arm and flung his nemesis falchion as he screamed a battle prayer. "I AM THE HAMMER!" His words roar could by heard by his battle brothers atop the cliff. The falchion spun end over end through the air and found purchase in the daemons chest. It bellowed a blood curdling scream as the blade sank into its skin up to the haft. Apollo waisted no time, he charged forward his right hand grabbing the hilt of his halberd as he ran. His bolter arm spat bolts at the daemon as he charged. They smacked and exploded up its body. Apollo ran forward bolts from his squad spattering around him, clearing a path. Apollo slid through the blood soaked ground and leapt through the air clear over the cultists heads. "I AM THE RIGHT HAND OF THE EMPEROR!" He continued The Daemons hands flung together trying to smash Apollo in mid air. Apollo lashed out with each arm, halberd and falchion cutting through the daemons palms and fingers. "THE INSTRUMENT OF HIS WILL!" He roared as he slammed hard into the daemons chest, his left hand sinking his falchion into the daemon to hold him in place. The Daemon wailed as the blade and prayer reached it. It's arms flailing about in pain. Apollo lifted his weight on one arm and stabbed relentlessly at the daemon with his halberd. "THE GAUNTLET ABOUT HIS FIST!, THE TIP OF HIS SPEAR!" The daemon stumbled back as it started to lose its grip on reality and the warp began to pull it back. Blood fountained from the daemons chest pooling to the ground around its feet. Apollo hefted his halberd up. "AND THE EDGE OF HIS SWORD!!" Apollos halberd speared up through the daemons neck and into the skull as it screeched its last breath. The Daemon fell backward onto the ground and began disintegrating back into the warp. Apollo stood on its corpse and yanked his falchions from its body whipping them out letting the blood slide off the blades onto the ground before sheathing them. He turned to see his battle brothers had scaled down the cliff and where now pushing the cultists back, their morale shattered by the loss of the massive daemon. The battle was won by the the grey knights that day. The main force had banished the greater Daemon responsible for the corruption, but half the planets city had to be purged. The planet was then placed under the careful watch of the inquisition until it was sure that it was purged of any heresy. Personal Notes: Justicar Apollo is noted to be exceptionally skilled with his Nemesis Falchions and can always be seen with them sheathed across the back of his waist. He is also noted as being very meticulous in the care his gear, and can be seen spending hours making sure every piece is perfect and ready for combat. Due to this fact he seems to have a greater understanding of his gears machine spirit, so much so that other Grey Knights have been seen coming to him for aid with there own. Category:Characters